STUDIO: Paramount
RELEASE DATE: August 5, 2008
STARRING: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, James Doohan, and Walter Koenig
CREATED BY: Gene Roddenberry
FEATURES: Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories Part 2 To Boldly Go
Kirk, Spock, & Bones: Star Trek's Great Trio
Star Trek's Divine Diva: Nichelle Nichols
Star Trek: The Animated Series - "More Tribbles, More Troubles"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - "Trials and Tribble-ations"
Preview Trailers For Each Episode

The HD-DVD release of the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series was one of the coolest sci-fi DVD releases of 2007. Sure, it cost a ridiculous amount of money (over $200), but it was SPOCK IN HD! Even better than that was the fact that the release was much more than just a pretty transfer - all 29 episodes from the legendary first season of one of the most influential series of all time were actually new and improved. You see, a lot of those early special effects didn't look so hot in high definition, so the studio went back and upgraded dozens of shots from the show itself, mostly making exterior shots of the Enterprise look like they would in the current era of CGI. But it wasn't just a new CGI shot here and there a la the Special Editions of Star Wars. No, there was much more to the enhancements of the first season of Star Trek, often making subtle changes to scenes that only hardcore fans would even notice were any different. And it didn't stop there. The special features on the first remastered season of Star Trek in its HD-DVD Combo form were spectacular. Fans eagerly anticipated the even-better season two (actually, it's the best season of the show, in my opinion). Small problem - the format war ended and the troop that Paramount backed lay dead on the battlefield and it happened without enough time for Star Trek to come out on Blu-Ray. So, now, what we have is a remastered, special edition release on standard DVD with the promise of Blu-Ray sometime down the line. Hardcore fans will wait for Blu-Ray. Who will buy this set? I'm not really sure, but they'll be happy until the Blu-Ray edition makes them victims of the double dip.

The remastered second season of Star Trek is housed in a unique, clear plastic case that undeniably looks cool on the shelf but is actually not-too-sturdy in a practical sense. It's not easy to get back together and I have a feeling the plastic will have chipped or broken entirely by the end of the calendar year. We're all for packaging that makes your product stand out from the crowd, but it needs to be practical too. Inside the plastic case, Star Trek fans will find eight discs and a series of postcards that detail what's on each disc (once again, creative-but-flimsy packaging). Each of the 26 episodes have been meticulously remastered from the original camera negative and are presented with new state-of-the-art visual effects and a new 5.1 soundtrack. So, the picture looks a ton better than the other standard edition release of the second season of Star Trek but not as good as the first remastered season. If you're starting with this season, you will be blown away by the new look of the Enterprise, which blends in well with the original scenes and doesn't stand out like a lot of added CGI shots often do. The original score has also been re-recorded and even William Shatner's classic opening monologue ("Space, the final frontier...") has been digitally remastered. The show looks and sounds amazing.

And, to be honest, the show WAS amazing in its second season. Just as the second film, The Wrath of Khan, is the best movie, the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series is my favorite single season of any incarnation of the show. What people know and love about Star Trek, what turned them into Trekkies and brought this brilliant-but-cancelled show back from the dead in the first place is all here in season two. Half of the top ten, user-voted episodes on TV.com are from this season, including #1, "Mirror, Mirror". The others are "The Trouble With Tribbles", "Journey to Babel", "The Doomsday Machine", and "Amok Time". The legendary "Tribbles" even gets its own disc, complete with two other variations on the Tribbles legend, when they appeared on Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Special features about the Tribbles and their return on DS9 are included. Other special features in the set are preview trailers for every episode, a few featurettes, and the true gem, "Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest" - a series of rare home movies shot behind the scenes of many people's favorite show. Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, Standard, whatever - true Trekkies will need to pick up this set just for those home movies. Just set aside some money for the Blu-Ray version that you know you'll have to get eventually.